4-21-12: Today in History

Lead Story
Rome founded, 753 B.C.

American Revolution
British attack Danbury, Connecticut, 1777

Automotive
GM celebrates 100 millionth U.S.-made car, 1967

Civil War
Steight's Raid begins, 1863

Cold War
Roy Cohn and David Schine return to U.S., 1953

Crime
Executions resume in California, 1992

Disaster
Prisoners left to burn in Ohio fire, 1930

General Interest
The Battle of San Jacinto, 1836

Red Baron killed in action, 1918

Chinese students begin protests at Tiananmen Square, 1989

Hollywood
First movie projector demonstrated in United States, 1895

Literary
Charlotte Bronte born, 1816

Music
"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree" tops the U.S. pop charts and creates a cultural phenomenon., 1973

Old West
Naturalist John Muir is born, 1838

Presidential
Lincoln's funeral train leaves D.C., 1865

Sports
Rosie Ruiz fakes Boston Marathon win, 1980

Vietnam War
Intelligence reveals North Vietnamese units in South Vietnam, 1965

Thieu flees Saigon as Xuan Loc falls, 1975

World War I
Red Baron killed in action, 1918

World War II
Red Army overruns German High Command as it approaches the capital, 1945
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

According to tradition, on April 21, 753 B.C., Romulus and his twin brother, Remus, found Rome on the site where they were suckled by a she-wolf as orphaned infants. Actually, the Romulus and Remus myth originated sometime in the fourth century B.C., and the exact date of Rome's founding was set by the Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro in the first century B.C.

According to the legend, Romulus and Remus were the sons of Rhea Silvia, the daughter of King Numitor of Alba Longa. Alba Longa was a mythical city located in the Alban Hills southeast of what would become Rome. Before the birth of the twins, Numitor was deposed by his younger brother Amulius, who forced Rhea to become a vestal virgin so that she would not give birth to rival claimants to his title. However, Rhea was impregnated by the war god Mars and gave birth to Romulus and Remus. Amulius ordered the infants drowned in the Tiber, but they survived and washed ashore at the foot of the Palatine hill, where they were suckled by a she-wolf until they were found by the shepherd Faustulus.

Reared by Faustulus and his wife, the twins later became leaders of a band of young shepherd warriors. After learning their true identity, they attacked Alba Longa, killed the wicked Amulius, and restored their grandfather to the throne. The twins then decided to found a town on the site where they had been saved as infants. They soon became involved in a petty quarrel, however, and Remus was slain by his brother. Romulus then became ruler of the settlement, which was named "Rome" after him.

To populate his town, Romulus offered asylum to fugitives and exiles. Rome lacked women, however, so Romulus invited the neighboring Sabines to a festival and abducted their women. A war then ensued, but the Sabine women intervened to prevent the Sabine men from seizing Rome. A peace treaty was drawn up, and the communities merged under the joint rule of Romulus and the Sabine king, Titus Tatius. Tatius' early death, perhaps perpetrated by Romulus, left the Roman as the sole king again. After a long and successful rule, Romulus died under obscure circumstances. Many Romans believed he was changed into a god and worshipped him as the deity Quirinus. After Romulus, there were six more kings of Rome, the last three believed to be Etruscans. Around 509 B.C., the Roman republic was established.

Another Roman foundation legend, which has its origins in ancient Greece, tells of how the mythical Trojan Aeneas founded Lavinium and started a dynasty that would lead to the birth of Romulus and Remus several centuries later. In the Iliad, an epic Greek poem probably composed by Homer in the eighth century B.C., Aeneas was the only major Trojan hero to survive the Greek destruction of Troy. A passage told of how he and his descendants would rule the Trojans, but since there was no record of any such dynasty in Troy, Greek scholars proposed that Aeneas and his followers relocated.

In the fifth century B.C., a few Greek historians speculated that Aeneas settled at Rome, which was then still a small city-state. In the fourth century B.C., Rome began to expand within the Italian peninsula, and Romans, coming into greater contact with the Greeks, embraced the suggestion that Aeneas had a role in the foundation of their great city. In the first century B.C., the Roman poet Virgil developed the Aeneas myth in his epic poem the Aeneid, which told of Aeneas' journey to Rome. Augustus, the first Roman emperor and emperor during Virgil's time, and Julius Caesar, his great-uncle and predecessor as Roman ruler, were said to be descended from Aeneas.


Buttree member, Rome wasn't built in a day!

1836 - General Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto (near present-day Houston). This 18-minute battle decided the independence of Texas.

1873 - The Texas state legislature repealed the law authorizing the State Police. At least thirty-six State Police members became Texas Rangers.

1888 - The Texas State Capitol in Austin opened to the public. Construction was not complete at the time of the opening.

1906 - Frank Hamer enlisted in the Texas Rangers. He was successful in his assignment to track down the high-profile outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.

1942 - The first group of internees arrived at the Kenedy Alien Detention Camp near Kenedy, Texas. The camp was converted into a prison of war camp on October 1, 1944.

1972 - The Texas Rangers beat the Angels, 7-6, before a crowd of 20,105 in first game for the franchise at Arlington Stadium.

1993 - The first episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger" aired on CBS.